The City of Hamilton has 20 craft lodges. Sixteen (downies) meet in the Masonic Temple on Main Street East. The other four (uppies) meet in the Hillcrest Temple on Mohawk Street on the mountain. Like the highlanders and lowlanders of Scotland, both camps celebrate their geographical differences.

I had the pleasure of sitting in Composite Lodge No. 667 and observing the good-natured banter between the brethren.

"We like it up here, where the air is clear," said one Composite member, "not like-----", he paused for effect, "--down in The Bowl." (The Bowl is famous for Stelco, Dofasco, Tiger Cats and murky air.)

The comment brings a retort. "Those guys up on The Hill, (you'd never call it a mountain in BC), they can see Toronto on a clear day, for whatever good that'll do them."

Both groups consolidated the meeting of 20 lodges into two buildings, one on high, one in the valley, both with parking lots, neither with massive staircases.

The Mountain Four form a family compact. Buchanan Lodge No. 550 was instituted in 1919, spinning off Westmount No. 671 in 1952. Hillcrest No. 593 received its charter in 1921 and sponsored Composite in 1951. Both sets sold their original buildings and now meet in a former Salvation Army Citadel, the reasons for which shall be explained later.

That steep limestone cliff was, in part, responsible for the growth of Freemasonry on Hamilton Mountain. Inadequate roads were carved into the rock face with switchbacks and turnoffs, but never quickly enough to meet vehicular demands. Waterfalls gushed from the fissures in spring and fall, ice and snow were winter access hazards, and all year round rock-falls posed a problem. Modern sanders, salters and snowploughs eased the difficulties in recent years, but population pressure still outstrips engineering capabilities. Visualize the evening rush hour crawling uphill.

Street names split the town. "Upper James Street" tells Hamiltonians the road is a continuation on the mountain. In the city centre it's simply "James" and not "Lower James."

Allan Freckleton, Secretary of Buchanan, explains the roots. In the early 1900's, Master Masons on the mountain faced long trips down into the city. Even longer trips if they attended rural lodges. "The Men of the Escarpment decided it was time," according to Allan, so in 1919 they got two things. The first was dispensation to set up a lodge. The second was one year's exclusive use of the rural Barton Township Hall on Upper James. One year later they bought the hall, promptly renaming it Buchanan Hall after the lodge. It was natural that their daughter lodge, Westmount, would share the same building.

They stayed there until 1982 when, faced with replacing the roof and the furnace and making repairs to an old building, they sold out and moved. The first stop was Ancaster, which is still atop the escarpment, so they held to their high tradition. One year later, 1983, they took up residence as tenants in the new Hillcrest Temple.

Hillcrest Lodge started in its own building in 1921, a three-storey structure on Concession Street. The first floor was commercial space, the second floor was apartments, and the third housed the lodge room and banquet hall. As a daughter lodge, Composite shared the family homestead. Hillcrest held onto it from 1921 until 1983 when the move was prompted by two factors. The first was an aging membership facing three flights of stairs. The second, to a lesser degree, was the fire-bombing of the ethnic bakery on the main floor. Bob Todd, Historian of Composite Lodge, described as a "jurisdictional business dispute" not unknown in Hamilton.

Ken Schweitzer, Past master of Hillcrest, recalls the circumstances. "I was the one who bought the building. We'd had land on Stone Church Road since 1966, two acres, and we intended erecting our own building. Some of the members wanted a building with no commercial tenants. After a while, what we wanted didn't matter because our property was boxed in by the city and got surrounded by other buildings. The bylaws kept us from doing what we had planned."

By coincidence, two units of the Salvation Army on the mountain merged operations and moved to Concession street, leaving the citadel on Mohawk Street up for sale.

Hillcrest sold its old quarters, the city bought its 2 acre dream plot, and the proceeds paid for the old Salvation Army building, renamed the Hillcrest Masonic Temple. It proved a natural draw to the other three lodges.

But that was just the beginning of the expenses, according to Ken. "The washrooms were alright for a church, but the building codes made us triple the number of bathrooms. It was funny because the church and the lodge both had the same number of members." Converting the sanctuary into a lodge, renovating the banquet facilities, the chair lift to the second floor and the extra washrooms "cost us close to a couple of hundred thousand dollars," he recalls.

"But," he adds philosophically, "we did pick up a lot of parking spaces."

Most Masonic Temples have no windows opening on the lodge room, or the windows have been darkened. Not so with the Hillcrest Temple. Six windows, four feet by eight feet, let the glorious light stream in through coloured and pebbled glass. Since the lodge room is one storey up, interlopers would need an extension ladder to eavesdrop.

Visitors to Hamilton lodges should check the Blue Book to make sure they are going to the right building. After attaining the summit of the mountain via the Jolly Cut or any one of the mountain access roads, or taking the back way via 403 and the Lincoln Alexander Parkway, take time. Enjoy the view. Walk the rim and view the forested slopes with mini waterfalls. Enjoy the sparkling lights that fill the bowl. Marvel at that glimmering necklace on the dark horizon, the Burlington Skyway that separates the inner harbour from the dark waters of Lake Ontario.

It's a beautiful city---both parts.

And there in the distance, on a clear day, you can see Toronto, for whatever good that'll do you.

PS: This Traveller is a former Hamiltonian, having worked in the 1950's as a reporter for CHML and the long-defunct Hamilton Daily News.

Happy to Meet Again !